Heavy Strike
by Cast Dice
Summary: Captain Steven Pierce is in for the shock of his life when his battlecruiser's prototype faster-than-light drive sends him to Reach just days before the planet's fall.  NOTE: This is an alternate universe, it might not be 100% accurate.
1. Chapter 1

1.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing mentioned here.**

A beautiful panorama of green forest stretched to the horizon in a lush blanket of vegetation. Here the thousands of animals and tens of thousands of plants lived in a perfectly balanced system of life; the shining example of equilibrium...

...in marked contrast to the raging battle in the skies.

Dozens of fast missile-launching wraiths streaked across the sky, delivering volley after volley of stinging attacks. They swarmed around the opposing faction's single ship, a massive battlecruiser, in a brilliant display of courage and devotion, often scoring deep hits on the lumbering giant. The unfazed cruiser inflicted heavy damage, however, and the wraith squad lost numbers with every pass. While the wasp like wraiths could dart this way and that and turn on a dime, the massive battleship compensated with nearly impenetrable armor and a truly fearsome array of laser batteries. The wraiths were losing badly.

The once-formidable task force of light attackers retreated with their numbers reduced to five, and the cruiser accelerated to chase them. It blew two wraiths out of the air before the others escaped the ship's firing range.

Captain Steven Pierce relaxed in his command chair. The battle was over. His ship had just played a major role in securing the skies over the rebel territory, and one less aircraft the enemy had in the sky meant one more that they could use in infantry support.

"Captain, sir!" The ship radio suddenly chirped.

Pierce flicked the transmit switch. "What is it?"

"It's Knox, in the engine room. Some of those AA missiles really did a number on our girl. We need to repair the engine. Any more damage, and the reactor will start leaking."

"Roger that." The captain turned off the intercom. "Navigator, take us back to HQ. We need an engine overhaul." The navigator nodded and turned to the chart table. Well, it was technically a chart table, but it was actually a sophisticated holographic display. Pierce thought back to the days of old, when captains of naval ships would have to actually plot out their course manually on pencil and paper. No such thing as GPS. It was a wonder they got anything done back then.

"A fine afternoon to you, Captain!" A voice boomed into the control room. Pierce looked up. The video screen had turned on and he was staring the Admiral straight in the face.

"And a finer afternoon to you, sir." He made a policy of being excessively polite to the man responsible for his jump start to battlecruiser command. Few captains had ever even seen the position Steven sat in now, a high honor usually reserved for only the highest-ranking officers. Steven had shown an incredible gift in command tactics, however, and when Admiral Jarson took him under his wing Pierce's career skyrocketed him to where he was now.

"Pierce, I've got a special gift for you. The latest in experimental technology to roll out of the tech labs. Fascinating stuff."

"Thank you, sir. What is it?" Pierce was used to this. The admiral usually forwarded the newest tech to him since he was the most capable officer in the fleet to test out new things. Pierce's work had led to groundbreaking advances in tactics. For instance, the previous year Pierce discovered a way to use the civilian science vessels in generating protective force fields around any ship. For his efforts, he was now first in line for a prototype on-board shield generator.

"Some new transportation mechanism. I think they called it a trans-light drive. Should really soup up your ship."

"I'm interested. When can I have it installed?"

"Ten hours from now at the shipyard."


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Captain Pierce strolled through his giant ship. After battles he made it his personal duty to give personal attention to every bit of damage reported, treating his command with the care and affection a cavalry officer of now-ancient wars might have shown his mount. He was always quiet about it, just casually looking on as men carried out repairs, but the crew noticed and as a result he was one of the most respected captains in the fleet.

After his examination, Pierce deemed the repair process satisfactory and headed for the shipyard to find the admiral. A shuttle took him directly from the _Heavy Strike's_ launch bay to the shipyard offices. He found Admiral Jarson waiting for him.

"Pierce, I thought you might like to know a little more about this drive we're installing." The admiral greeted him.

Pierce nodded. "I've been curious for more details, yes." A mild understatement. The admiral sensed this and cut straight to the chase.

"What we're looking at here is the technology to make your ship move faster than the speed of light."

Pierce stared. The academy hadn't taught him much in the ways of theoretically physics, but he understood that, supposedly, as any object approaches the speed of light, its mass increases towards infinity. Therefore, it's impossible to exceed or even match such a speed.

"Now, I know what you're thinking," the admiral continued, "that it shouldn't be possible. Well, it isn't. But that's not what this drive does. I can send you the more complicated details later, but in layman's terms this thing basically uses a specialized energy to punch a hole in space and literally make its own little wormhole. You could travel anywhere, further than the most distant stars, and come back at the snap of your fingers."

Pierce knew the admiral was glossing something over. "Our techies actually figured out how to control wormholes?" He asked incredulously.

The admiral's smile faded a bit. "Well, that's just the thing. We don't know. We only know how to create the wormholes. Figuring out how to use them? Well, that's up to you. Again, I'll send you the details. Good day, Captain Pierce."

Pierce could only dazedly salute at the admiral as he walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Pierce sat in his onboard office reading the finer details of his ship's new "enhancement." He found the details boring, but the overall concept was fascinating. For the most part, the admiral's description was spot-on, and from the report it seemed even the technicians didn't quite know how their own technology worked. His reading was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in."

It was just an ensign running an errand. "Sir, engine shakedown is now finished and we're ready to take off when you say so."

"Thank you. Dismissed." Pierce waved the young crewman away and set off towards the bridge.

The_ Heavy Strike_ was a large version of a typical battlecruiser. Its stern half formed a massive H shape, with the hull jutting out from the center to form the immense bulbous head. The entire flagship was about half a mile long, and it bristled with weapons and sported some of the heaviest armor in the fleet. However, it was Pierce's expertise, not the ship's obvious qualifications, that got him assigned to testing the new Wormhole drive, as it was now titled.

Pierce finally arrived at the bridge. His senior staff members were all in their assigned stations, looking at him expectantly. This was why he enjoyed commanding a ship. He felt a surge of pleasure in knowing that the brave men under his rule would loyally follow him to the ends of space without question... which, if he read the briefing correctly, might just be where he'd take them.

"Is the ship secured and ready for launch?" He inquired. The stations reported in quickly and efficiently.

"Aye, sir."

"Take us into orbit. We have a job to do."

"Aye, sir."

With that, the battlecruiser fired its massive thrusters and slowly rose out of its docking area. In under an hour the lumbering ship was orbiting the planet. After a final systems check, the _Heavy Strike_ eased out of orbit and soared off towards safer space; Pierce had read something in the file about the drive becoming exponentially more unpredictable in gravity wells.

Upon reaching empty space, the ship slowed down and held position. Pierce calmly flicked on the onboard radio.

"Engineering, con. Final systems check?"

"Aye sir, we're as ready as we can be."

"Engage the drive."

"Aye. Drive engaging."

From the stern of the ship emanated a deep rumble. The rumble grew in intensity over the next fifteen seconds until the entire ship was shaking. The officers in the bridge nervously tugged at their safety restraints, making sure they were as secure as possible. Even Pierce fidgeted a bit in his chair.

All at once, the rumbling stopped, and every soul on the _Heavy Strike_ simultaneously felt as though they were falling. The feeling only lasted an instant before everyone just as suddenly felt heavy again. It was almost as if, for a fleeting second, the onboard gravity generators had failed. In fact, though, the only device on the ship that shut off was the navigator's holographic table.

Pierce looked up at the view screen. It was the same black space as before. Then again, that really wasn't any way to tell.

"Navigator, has our position changed at all?"

The navigator frowned at his newly rebooted table. "No, sir. Our sensors say we haven't budged... but..." He paused. He seemed like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Pierce didn't like his expression. "What is it?"

"Sir, we... that is, the stars, um..." He paused again and at a look from the captain continued in a small voice. "... the stars are different. I've checked every view angle. I don't know what to say. These are not the same stars."

The captain was confused and wasn't afraid to admit that he very much wanted this explained.

"Son, just how can the stars be different if our location isn't?"

One of the officers spoke up:

"Sir... I have an explanation but I don't think you'll like it."

"Spit it out, Lieutenant."

"We just warped ourselves into a parallel universe."


	4. Chapter 4

4.

Captain Jacob Keyes sat bolt upright in his command chair in the bridge of the _Pillar of Autumn_ and looked at his radar officer.

"A _what_!"

The lieutenant turned and faced the captain. "That's what it was, sir. A slipspace jump. But I don't think it was Covenant."

Keyes relaxed a little. "How can you be sure?" He asked.

The radar operator pointed at his screen. "Look at all the patterns in electromagnetic interference. This is a standard covenant jump, on this side of the screen..." The left side of the screen showed a very orderly series of spikes and dips. "...and that jump is on the right." The other side of the screen was a jagged, irregular paceless blob. "There's no way that was covenant. Hell, even _we_ are better than that at organizing jumps."

Keyes nodded. "We need to check it out anyway." This was standard procedure for a planet on lockdown. And when the _Pillar of Autumn_ was in orbit over Reach and a Covenant attack was expected any day now... security was tight, to say the least.

Keyes turned to his pilot, Ensign Lovell. "Ensign, take us to whatever the hell just happened there."

Lovell nodded. "Aye, sir." He rapidly typed out commands and the Halcyon-class battleship edged out of orbit. The aft thrusters fired and the ship began moving towards the jump.

* * *

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"Captain, contact bearing two-three-nine! Whatever it is, it's bearing down on us fast!"

Stevens frowned. "Keep the weapons cold." In a foreign universe (he still shocked himself when he thought of it), the _Heavy Strike_ would need all the help it could get.

"They're trying to establish radio contact." The radio officer reported.

"Patch them through."

The video screen flickered to life. Stevens saw a gray-haired man in an unfamiliar uniform holding an old pipe in one hand. He had a tired look, as if he'd seen a hundred battles, but his eyes still carried an energetic spark. Stevens immediately found himself respecting this man.

On the other end of the conversation, Keyes sat and looked at a young cadet-type person with black hair and a short beard. He wore his uniform casually, but still looked every bit like a rigid military person. Keyes was struck his piercing green eyes.

Keyes started the conversation. "This is Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC. To whom am I speaking?"

"This is Captain Steven Pierce of the Terran Defense Fleet."

Keyes pressed on. "State your purpose."

Pierce thought for a moment. "You know about as much as we do. Our ship's new engine seems to have blasted us to your universe."

"Is this some sort of a joke?"

"Not at all, captain. We have no idea where the hell we are and all I know for sure is that I should thank God right now that we speak the same language. Could we discuss this in person?"

"The _Pillar of Autumn's_ landing bay is illuminated. Come alone in a shuttle. Keyes out."

The feed went dead. All of the crew on the bridge looked at Pierce expectantly. He looked back at them.

"Prepare a dropship for launch. I'm going over." With that, he left the bridge and began walking down to the launch bay. By the time he arrived, a small shuttle had already been fueled and warmed up for him. He sat down at the controls- something most senior officers in his fleet wouldn't have a clue how to do- and nimbly flew out of the _Heavy Strike_.

Once out of the ship, Pierce suddenly appreciated how massive the _Pillar of Autumn_ was. It was a massive rectangular, block-shaped ship that was at least three kilometers long.

While Pierce was flying over, Keyes had a chance to study this strange ship. Its shape was very irregular. The ship looked like it possessed very powerful weaponry even though he couldn't tell what kind of projectile would come out of those massive forward cannons.

"Well," he said to himself, flipping his pipe between his fingers, "this ought to be interesting."


	5. Chapter 5

5.

**Sorry this chapter took so long. Those AP classes can really be a bitch.**

Captain Pierce's dropship gently landed in the _Pillar of Autumn'_s launch bay. A space had been cleared out for it; in front of this space stood Captain Keyes, hands clasped. A dozen marines stood in rigid formation behind him. A ramp eased its way open from the front of the strange, but not entirely outlandish dropship and Edwards slowly walked down into the hangar. Unsure what to do, and completely aware that he was literally on his own in this universe, he quickly decided his attitude.

Pierce snapped a respectful salute. "Captain Edward Pierce, skipper of the _Heavy Strike_, reporting completely at your mercy, sir."

Keyes gave a faint smile at "mercy." He returned the salute. "Captain Jacob Keyes. Welcome aboard the _Pillar of Autumn_." He glanced at the squad of marines and the now-considerable crowd of engineers and crewmen gathering at a distance. "Follow me to my quarters, Captain Pierce. I find it a bit more private."

On the way to Keyes' room, Pierce studied the crewmen they passed. They were completely identical to his own crew in build, and he was still shaken by their speaking the same language. _ Maybe there's hope for us yet._

One elevator ride and still more walking later, the two arrived at the captain's cabin- separated from the crew cabins mostly by being twice the size as the others and having an elaborate writing desk at one end. All around, the room was about as well-decorated as could be expected on a combat vessel. There was a small table with two chairs. Keyes gestured to a chair, dispensing with the formalities. Pierce slowly sat down, still absorbing thoughts.

Keyes sat down across from him. "So what was that you were saying about another universe, Captain?"

Pierce gathered his thoughts for a moment. "Just earlier today, my ship was outfitted with the very latest prototype technology. I don't really understand the details; I just test-drive it. We fired it up for the first time and here we are."

"Do you know any of the details?" Keyes asked.

"The file said that it was something akin to punching a hole in space and creating a wormhole."

"We have a similar method of transportation," Keyes said. "We call it slipspace. It's perfectly possible that that's what you have on your bird; in fact, when you arrived, we picked up radar patterns similar to when any object drops out of slipspace. Basically, we know very little about it and at the moment it's random at best. Two objects might drop out of slipspace meters apart or millions of kilometers distant. It's staggeringly improbable, but that must be what happened. I suppose your slipspace generator is crude enough- no offense, of course- that such a misdirection could happen."

After a short pause, Pierce nodded. "That makes more sense than anything else I could have come up with."

Keyes looked uneasy. "It doesn't end there. I'm afraid there is a much greater issue at hand."

Pierce was exhausted enough after having lost his universe. "Do tell."

Keyes' uneasiness disappeared and was instantly replaced by determination. "You've come at a very bad time and place." He then related the history of humankind's war with the Covenant, from the first attacks on Harvest to the sweeping of the outer colonies to the situation of present time. One of the largest fleets in human history was assembled in orbit over Reach, the last remaining stronghold planet. And it was situated dangerously close to Earth. It was easy enough to convince Pierce of Earth's importance.

"Captain Pierce, we need your help. Your ship seems to possess advanced weaponry, and you're obviously one of the best-qualified captains I've ever seen. Will you join us?"

A long pause followed. Pierce was deep in thought. He had lost everything in his universe, there was no hope of returning, and within hours of his arrival in a new universe he was being talked into the military. Just like back home, he thought.

"I'll help you in any way I can."


End file.
